Hilkiah House

This might seem like a post by 'House and Garden' magazine and maybe one day it's going to be that. Peter had the pleasure of visiting Hilkiah House at Kinglake on New Year's Day 2021 and to explore its amazing garden growth. In twenty years this bare grassy two acre property has been transformed into a massive 'secret' garden. The fires of Black Saturday licked its edges eleven years ago, as one of the pictures (tree with a face) will show, nearly destroyed it. But the family were committed to keeping it safe if at all possible, and they did. It is a place of healing and renewal. Peter's friends offer this little piece of God's healing touch through their hospitality vision. It was a lovely way to 'book end' the change of the years, first with Gembrook Retreat the day before and then with Hilkiah House to step into the year with. Enjoy, and imagine being there. 

Last Day of 2020

 

We went to Gembrook Retreat to join others on a 'meditative and contemplative' walk to four places on the ground. Our first station was Maggie's Garden where we focused on Gratitude. The picture above shows that part of the property. Our second station was the Quaker peace garden where we honoured our pain in what ever form that took. At our third station, the Indigenous garden, we were invited to see with new/ancient eyes. At the last station, around the fire, we contemplated going forth into 2021 and beyond. These stations originated from the book "Active Hope" by Joanna Macy, with a focus on how to offer our gift of active hope into a troubled and broken world. In going forth, we take steps to be actively involved in the 'Great Turning'. What's our first step? What is our intent?

Moon rising that evening

Gembrook Retreat Scenes

It seemed a nice idea to post some images taken earlier that capture the magic of the Retreat, a place we used to visit a lot. Hopefully we can resume this as we are able. We have a collection of slides to music 'I have a dream' sung by Lisa Stokke (for Mamma Mia!). This is really about learning to make a slideshow video with sound and sharing it. You can view the video here. Enjoy.

Gembrook Meeting Hut

It was wonderful to make it to Gembrook Retreat and help a little. The present project is to save the Lower Hut by mostly rebuilding it to cater for a groups up to twenty (at least for meetings). Peter helped wire up (12 volt) and paint, while Barb got into cleaning the windows. The view outside was worth Barb's effort.

House Cooling at Gembrook

Nothing can stay the same and we are facing a big family transitional change. We went to a "house cooling" as a part of the process of this change, a part of saying "good-bye". It will certainly be different for us when our Gembrook family goes to live such a long distance away. We have to console ourselves with the prospect of making special visits in time as we have opportunity. God has laid out the future and we only need to remain positive and explore new ways of meaningful communication. Peter thinks lots of emails (how old-fashioned is that!). A huge crowd of friends from past and present came to the house cooling and it was great to do so many catch-ups in one place. The air was cool-ish outside but there were a lot of warm hearts to compensate.